U.S. Senate May Get New Teabagger

Yesterday anti-gay, anti-immigrant Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz won the Texas GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

"We did it,” Mr. Cruz told the cheering crowd gathered at a Marriott Hotel in Houston to claim victory. “Millions of Texans, millions of Americans are rising up to reclaim our country, defend liberty and restore the Constitution.” Mr. Cruz, 41, is the latest conservative rebel to bring down an established party leader, tapping into frustration within the Republican ranks nationwide. These dissident triumphs include, in this year’s primaries, the defeat of Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana by Richard E. Mourdock and Deb Fischer’s win over a veteran Republican for the Senate nomination in Nebraska. They also echo Marco Rubio’s Senate victory in 2010 over a Republican governor, Charlie Crist of Florida.

Cruz is anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage and criticized an opponent for daring to show his face at a gay pride parade. If he makes it to Congress as predicted, he will doubtlessly join the Tea Party Caucus, which currently has 61 members in the House but only four in the Senate: Rand Paul, Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, and Jerry Moran.